Kim Kardashian's Met Gala look is a shapewear-ified reference to the 'you're doing amazing sweetie' meme

• Kim Kardashian's 2023 Met Gala look was a custom Schiaparelli made with dozens of strands of pearls.
• The look references the beloved "you're doing amazing, sweetie" meme.

Kim Kardashian's 2023 Met Gala look — a custom Schiaparelli comprised of dozens of strands of pearls and a shapewear-but-better corset — was meant to honor Karl Lagerfeld, but it also referenced one of the internet's most dearly beloved memes: the 2007 vintage "you're doing amazing, sweetie."

The moment from season one, episode four of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," shows Kris Jenner in full mom-ager mode, taking pictures and cheering Kim on with those words of encouragement as she poses nude aside from dozens of strands of pearls for a "Playboy" photoshoot.

"You're doing amazing, sweetie" is one of the Kardashian family's earliest and perhaps most enduring memes. You could argue it's been referenced as recently as Ariana Grande's 2018 "Thank U, Next" music video when Jenner reprised the role of sexually progressive cheerleader mom cosplaying Regina George's mother. It also comes at precisely the moment when onlookers seem to be musing about whether the Kardashians are over. A rumor circulated earlier this year that the Kardashian-Jenners wouldn't be invited to the Met Gala, perhaps in a move to avoid over-exposure and maintain relevancy. (In reality, Kim, Kendall, and Kylie attended.)

Instead, Kim wore a glamorized reference to her early days and reminded onlookers of how far she's come — from feeling like an outsider when she attended as Kanye West's plus-one in 2013 to generating headlines like: "Why the Met Gala Needs the Kardashians" in 2023.

The look, markedly less controversial than when she wore Marilyn Monroe's 1962 Bob Mackie dress last year, was also decently on theme; The Met's steps saw plenty of pearls — including on Lizzo and Brian Tyree Henry. Kardashian's look also wasn't the only one to reference herself: Nicole Kidman showed up in the iconic dress Lagerfeld designed for her famous 2004 Chanel No. 5 commercial.

The dress also offered a not-so-subtle nod to Kardashian's shapewear empire — her $3.2 billion brand Skims, which was not lost on viewers.

The "you're doing amazing, sweetie" meme is its own Warholian cultural artifact — one that's free, just old enough to be minorly nostalgic, and recycled from the Kardashians' own archives. Kim, who is memed far more often than most celebrities, is certainly no stranger to going viral.

As cultural critic and Kardashianologist MJ Corey pointed out in a May 2 TikTok, the 2023 Met Gala is exactly a decade from Kim's first appearance. In 2013, Kim's outfit was also turned into a meme, and she said she cried the "whole way home."

"Ten years later from Kim's first appearance, in which she became a meme," Corey told her 190,800 followers. "She references her own meme. She brings the meme to the carpet."